The field of the present invention relates to the delivery of energy impulses (and/or fields) to bodily tissues for therapeutic purposes, and more specifically to non-invasive devices and methods for treating conditions associated with bronchial constriction. The energy impulses (and/or fields) comprise electrical and/or magnetic, mechanical and/or acoustic, and optical and/or thermal energy.
There are a number of treatments for various infirmities that require the destruction of otherwise healthy tissue in order to affect a beneficial effect. Malfunctioning tissue is identified, and then lesioned or otherwise compromised in order to affect a beneficial outcome, rather than attempting to repair the tissue to its normal functionality. While there are a variety of different techniques and mechanisms that have been designed to focus lesioning directly onto the target nerve tissue, collateral damage is usually inevitable.
Still other treatments for malfunctioning tissue can be medicinal in nature, in many cases leaving patients to become dependent upon artificially synthesized chemicals. Examples of this are anti-asthma drugs such as albuterol, proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole (Prilosec), spastic bladder relievers such as Ditropan, and cholesterol reducing drugs like Lipitor and Zocor. In many cases, these medicinal approaches have side effects that are either unknown or quite significant. For example, at least one popular diet pill of the late 1990's was subsequently found to cause heart attacks and strokes. Unfortunately, the beneficial outcomes of surgery and medicines are, therefore, often realized at the cost of function of other tissues, or risks of side effects.
The use of electrical stimulation for treatment of medical conditions has been well known in the art for nearly two thousand years. It has been recognized that electrical stimulation of the brain and/or the peripheral nervous system and/or direct stimulation of the malfunctioning tissue, which stimulation is generally a wholly reversible and non-destructive treatment, holds significant promise for the treatment of many ailments.
Electrical stimulation of the brain with implanted electrodes has been approved for use in the treatment of various conditions, including pain and movement disorders including essential tremor and Parkinson's disease. The principle behind these approaches involves disruption and modulation of hyperactive neuronal circuit transmission at specific sites in the brain. As compared with the very dangerous lesioning procedures in which the portions of the brain that are behaving pathologically are physically destroyed, electrical stimulation is achieved by implanting electrodes at these sites to, first sense aberrant electrical signals and then to send electrical pulses to locally disrupt the pathological neuronal transmission, driving it back into the normal range of activity. These electrical stimulation procedures, while invasive, are generally conducted with the patient conscious and a participant in the surgery.
Brain stimulation, and deep brain stimulation in particular, is not without some drawbacks. The procedure usually requires penetrating the skull, and inserting an electrode into the brain matter using a catheter-shaped lead, or the like. While monitoring the patient's condition (such as tremor activity, etc.), the position of the electrode is adjusted to achieve significant therapeutic potential. Next, adjustments are made to the electrical stimulus signals, such as frequency, periodicity, voltage, current, etc., again to achieve therapeutic results. The electrode is then permanently implanted and wires are directed from the electrode to the site of a surgically implanted pacemaker. The pacemaker provides the electrical stimulus signals to the electrode to maintain the therapeutic effect. While the therapeutic results of deep brain stimulation are promising, there are significant complications that arise from the implantation procedure, including stroke induced by damage to surrounding tissues and the neurovasculature.
One of the most successful modern applications of this basic understanding of the relationship between muscle and nerves is the cardiac pacemaker. Although its roots extend back into the 1800's, it was not until 1950 that the first practical, albeit external and bulky pacemaker was developed. Dr. Rune Elqvist developed the first truly functional, wearable pacemaker in 1957. Shortly thereafter, in 1960, the first fully implanted pacemaker was developed.
Around this time, it was also found that the electrical leads could be connected to the heart through veins, which eliminated the need to open the chest cavity and attach the lead to the heart wall. In 1975 the introduction of the lithium-iodide battery prolonged the battery life of a pacemaker from a few months to more than a decade. The modern pacemaker can treat a variety of different signaling pathologies in the cardiac muscle, and can serve as a defibrillator as well (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,738,667 to Deno, et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference).
Another application of electrical stimulation of nerves has been the treatment of radiating pain in the lower extremities by means of stimulation of the sacral nerve roots at the bottom of the spinal cord (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,099 to Whitehurst, et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference).
Nerve stimulation is thought to be accomplished directly or indirectly by depolarizing a nerve membrane, causing the discharge of an action potential; or by hyperpolarization of a nerve membrane, preventing the discharge of an action potential. Such stimulation may occur after electrical energy, or also other forms of energy, are transmitted to the vicinity of a nerve [F. RATTAY. The basic mechanism for the electrical stimulation of the nervous system. Neuroscience Vol. 89, No. 2, pp. 335-346, 1999; Thomas HEIMBURG and Andrew D. Jackson. On soliton propagation in biomembranes and nerves. PNAS vol. 102 (no. 28, Jul. 12, 2005): 9790-9795]. Nerve stimulation may be measured directly as an increase, decrease, or modulation of the activity of nerve fibers, or it may be inferred from the physiological effects that follow the transmission of energy to the nerve fibers.
The present disclosure involves medical procedures that stimulate nerves by non-invasively transmitting different forms of energy to nerves. A medical procedure is defined as being non-invasive when no break in the skin (or other surface of the body, such as a wound bed) is created through use of the method, and when there is no contact with an internal body cavity beyond a body orifice (e.g, beyond the mouth or beyond the external auditory meatus of the ear). Such non-invasive procedures are distinguished from invasive procedures (including minimally invasive procedures) in that the invasive procedures insert a substance or device into or through the skin (or other surface of the body, such as a wound bed) or into an internal body cavity beyond a body orifice. The following paragraphs give examples of non-invasive medical procedures, contrasting some of them with corresponding invasive medical procedures.
For example, transcutaneous electrical stimulation of a nerve is non-invasive because it involves attaching electrodes to the surface of the skin (or using a form-fitting conductive garment) without breaking the skin. In contrast, percutaneous electrical stimulation of a nerve is minimally invasive because it involves the introduction of an electrode under the skin, via needle-puncture of the skin.
Another form of non-invasive electrical stimulation, known as magnetic stimulation, involves the generation (induction) of an eddy current within tissue, which results from an externally applied time-varying magnetic field. The principle of operation of magnetic stimulation, along with a list of medical applications of magnetic stimulation, is described in: Chris HOVEY and Reza Jalinous, THE GUIDE TO MAGNETIC STIMULATION, The Magstim Company Ltd, Spring Gardens, Whitland, Carmarthenshire, SA34 0HR, United Kingdom, 2006. As described in that Guide, applications of magnetic stimulation include the stimulation of selected peripheral nerves, as well as stimulation of selected portions of the brain (transcranial magnetic stimulation). Mechanisms underlying biological effects that result from applying such time-varying magnetic fields are reviewed in: PILLA, A. A. Mechanisms and therapeutic applications of time varying and static magnetic fields. In Barnes F and Greenebaum B (eds), Biological and Medical Aspects of Electromagnetic Fields. Boca Raton Fla.: CRC Press, 351-411 (2006).
Diathermy includes non-invasive methods for the heating of tissue, in which the temperature of tissues is raised by high frequency current, ultrasonic waves, or microwave radiation originating outside the body. With shortwave, microwave and radiofrequency diathermy, the tissue to be treated is irradiated with electromagnetic fields having a carrier frequency of typically 13.56, 27.12, 40.68, 915 or 2450 MHz, modulated at frequencies of typically 1 to 7000 Hz. The heating effects may be dielectric, wherein molecules in tissues try to align themselves with the rapidly changing electric field, and/or induced, wherein rapidly reversing magnetic fields induce circulating electric currents and electric fields in the body tissues, thereby generating heat. With ultrasound diathermy, high-frequency acoustic vibrations typically in the range of 800 to 1,000 KHz are used to generate heat in deep tissue.
Devices similar to those used with diathermy deliver electromagnetic waves non-invasively to the body for therapeutic purposes, without explicitly intending to heat tissue. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,642, entitled Microwave apparatus for physiotherapeutic treatment of human and animal bodies, to Chen, describes apparatus for performing acupuncture treatment with microwaves. U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,409, entitled Device for microwave resonance therapy, to Lobarev et al. discloses the transmission of an electromagnetic wave that is propagated along a slotted transmission line in free space toward the patient's skin, for applications analogous to laser acupuncture. U.S. Pat. No. 7,548,779, entitled Microwave energy head therapy, to Konchitsky, discloses the transmission of high frequency electromagnetic pulses non-invasively to a patient's head, for purposes of treating headaches, epilepsy, and depression, wherein the brain behaves as an antenna for receiving electromagnetic energy at certain wavelengths.
Acupuncture (meridian therapy) may be non-invasive if the acupuncture tool does not penetrate the skin, as practiced in Toyohari acupuncture and the pediatric acupuncture style Shonishin. Other forms of acupuncture may also be non-invasive when they use the Teishein, which is one of the acupuncture needles described in classical texts of acupuncture. Even though it is described as an acupuncture needle, the Teishein does not pierce or puncture the skin. It is used to apply rapid percussion pressure to the meridian point being treated, so its use may also be described as a form of acupressure. Electroacupuncture is often performed as a non-invasive transcutaneous form of electrostimulation. Laser acupuncture and colorpuncture are also non-invasive in that acupuncture meridian points are stimulated at the surface of the skin with light, rather than mechanically or electrically. Although it is possible to compare the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment with the effectiveness of Western types of treatments for recognized disorders such as asthma, it is always possible to ascribe any differences in effectiveness to differences in mechanisms. This is because acupuncture treats patients by stimulating acupuncture meridian points, not tissue such as nerves or blood vessels as identified by modern western medicine. Furthermore, acupuncture endeavors to produce effects that are not contemplated by modern western medicine, such as the de qi sensation, and results using acupuncture may be confounded by the individualized selection of meridian points, as well as by the simultaneous treatment with herbal medicines. For example, acupuncture is not considered to be effective for the treatment of asthma [McCARNEY R W, Brinkhaus B, Lasserson T J, Linde K. Acupuncture for chronic asthma (Review). The Cochrane Library 2009, Issue 3. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.; Michael Y. SHAPIRA, Neville Berkman, Gila Ben-David, Avraham Avital, Elat Bardach and Raphael Breuer. Short-term Acupuncture Therapy Is of No Benefit in Patients With Moderate Persistent Asthma. CHEST 2002; 121:1396-1400; W GRUBER, E Eber, D Malle-Scheid, A Pfleger, E Weinhandl, L Dorfer, M S Zach. Laser acupuncture in children and adolescents with exercise induced asthma. Thorax 2002; 57:222-225], but even if were to have been shown effective, such effectiveness would, by definition, be attributable only to the stimulation of meridian points, as interpreted in terms of theories related to oriental medicine (e.g., restoration of Qi balance in Traditional Chinese Medicine).
Other forms of non-invasive medical procedures direct mechanical vibrations to selected organs or are used to massage muscles. For example, mechanical vibrations applied to the chest are used by physiotherapists to dislodge mucus in the lungs. [M. J. GOODWIN. Mechanical chest stimulation as a physiotherapy aid. Med. Eng. Phys., 1994, Vol. 16, 267-272; Harriet SHANNON, Rachael Gregson, Janet Stocks, Tim J. Cole, Eleanor Main. Repeatability of physiotherapy chest wall vibrations applied spontaneously breathing adults. Physiotherapy 95 (2009) 36-42; McCARREN B, Alison J A and Herbert R D (2006): Vibration and its effect on the respiratory system. Australian Journal of Physiotherapy 52: 39-43]. It is believed that such vibration stimulates the skeletal muscles involved in breathing, although vibration at 100, 105, or 120 Hz might also potentially excite intrapulminary receptors [A. P. BINKS, E. Bloch-Salisbury, R. B. Banzett, R. M. Schwartzstein. Oscillation of the lung by chest-wall vibration. Respiration Physiology 126 (2001) 245-249; Ikuo HOMMA. Inspiratory inhibitory reflex caused by the chest wall vibration in man. Respiration Physiology (1980) 39, 345-353]. Similarly, non-invasive mechanical ventilators use a face mask, an upper body shell known as a cuirass, or a Hayek Oscillator to force air in and out of the lungs, thereby avoiding the use of an invasive endotracheal tube.
The mechanical larynx is another example of a non-invasive mechanical device, which is placed under the mandible so as to produce vibrations that the patient uses to create speech. Similarly, a hearing aid directs mechanical vibrations (acoustical or sound vibrations) to the eardrum. Because it is placed in a natural orifice (the ear canal or external auditory meatus), the hearing aid is considered to be non-invasive. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is another non-invasive mechanical treatment, which is used to break-up kidney stones by focusing onto the stones a high-intensity acoustic pulse that originates from outside the body.
Imaging procedures that require the insertion of an endoscope or similar device through the skin or into a cavity beyond a natural orifice (e.g., bronchoscopy or colonoscopy) are invasive. But capsule endoscopy, in which a camera having the size and shape of a pill is swallowed, is non-invasive because the capsule endoscope is swallowed rather than inserted into a body cavity. Such a swallowed capsule could also be used to perform non-invasive stimulation of tissue in its vicinity from within the digestive tract. Similarly, administration of a drug or biologic through a transdermal patch is non-invasive, whereas administration of a drug or biologic through a hypodermic needle is invasive. The acts of taking a drug or biologic orally or through inhalation are not considered to be medical procedures in the strict sense (so the issue of invasiveness does not arise), because those acts are functionally indistinguishable from the normal acts of eating, drinking, or breathing substances that may be metabolized or otherwise disposed of by the body.
Radiological procedures, such as X-ray imaging (fluoroscopy), magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound imaging, are non-invasive unless a transducer is inserted into a body cavity or under the skin (e.g., when an ultrasound transducer is inserted into the patient's esophagus). However, a non-invasive radiological procedure may be a component of a larger procedure having invasive components. For example, a component of the procedure is invasive when the formation of an image or delivery of energy relies on the presence of a contrast agent, enhancer, tissue-specific label or radioactive emitter that is inserted into the patient with a hypodermic needle.
In the present application, the non-invasive delivery of energy is intended ultimately to dilate bronchial passages, by relaxing bronchial smooth muscle. The smooth muscles that line the bronchial passages are controlled by a confluence of vagus and sympathetic nerve fiber plexuses. Spasms of the bronchi during asthma attacks and anaphylactic shock can often be directly related to pathological signaling within these plexuses. Anaphylactic shock and asthma are major health concerns.
Asthma, and other airway occluding disorders resulting from inflammatory responses and inflammation-mediated bronchoconstriction, affects an estimated eight to thirteen million adults and children in the United States. A significant subclass of asthmatics suffers from severe asthma. An estimated 5,000 persons die every year in the United States as a result of asthma attacks. Up to twenty percent of the populations of some countries are affected by asthma, estimated at more than a hundred million people worldwide. Asthma's associated morbidity and mortality are rising in most countries despite increasing use of anti-asthma drugs.
Asthma is characterized as a chronic inflammatory condition of the airways. Typical symptoms are coughing, wheezing, tightness of the chest and shortness of breath. Asthma is a result of increased sensitivity to foreign bodies such as pollen, dust mites and cigarette smoke. The body, in effect, overreacts to the presence of these foreign bodies in the airways. As part of the asthmatic reaction, an increase in mucous production is often triggered, exacerbating airway restriction. Smooth muscle surrounding the airways goes into spasm, resulting in constriction of airways. The airways also become inflamed. Over time, this inflammation can lead to scarring of the airways and a further reduction in airflow. This inflammation leads to the airways becoming more irritable, which may cause an increase in coughing and increased susceptibility to asthma episodes.
Two medicinal strategies exist for treating this problem for patients with asthma. The condition is typically managed by means of inhaled medications that are taken after the onset of symptoms, or by injected and/or oral medication that are taken chronically. The medications typically fall into two categories; those that treat the inflammation, and those that treat the smooth muscle constriction. The first is to provide anti-inflammatory medications, like steroids, to treat the airway tissue, reducing its tendency to over-release the molecules that mediate the inflammatory process. The second strategy is to provide a smooth muscle relaxant (e.g. an anticholinergic) to reduce the ability of the muscles to constrict.
It has been highly preferred that patients rely on avoidance of triggers and anti-inflammatory medications, rather than on the bronchodilators as their first line of treatment. For some patients, however, these medications, and even the bronchodilators are insufficient to stop the constriction of their bronchial passages, and more than five thousand people suffocate and die every year as a result of asthma attacks.
Anaphylaxis likely ranks among the other airway occluding disorders of this type as the most deadly, claiming many deaths in the United States every year. Anaphylaxis (the most severe form of which is anaphylactic shock) is a severe and rapid systemic allergic reaction to an allergen. Minute amounts of allergens may cause a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction. Anaphylaxis may occur after ingestion, inhalation, skin contact or injection of an allergen. Anaphylactic shock usually results in death in minutes if untreated. Anaphylactic shock is a lifethreatening medical emergency because of rapid constriction of the airway. Brain damage sets in quickly without oxygen.
The triggers for these fatal reactions range from foods (nuts and shellfish), to insect stings (bees), to medication (radio contrasts and antibiotics). It is estimated that 1.3 to 13 million people in the United States are allergic to venom associated with insect bites; 27 million are allergic to antibiotics; and 5-8 million suffer food allergies. All of these individuals are at risk of anaphylactic shock from exposure to any of the foregoing allergens. In addition, anaphylactic shock can be brought on by exercise. Yet all are mediated by a series of hypersensitivity responses that result in uncontrollable airway occlusion driven by smooth muscle constriction, and dramatic hypotension that leads to shock. Cardiovascular failure, multiple organ ischemia, and asphyxiation are the most dangerous consequences of anaphylaxis.
Anaphylactic shock requires advanced medical care immediately. Current emergency measures include rescue breathing; administration of epinephrine; and/or intubation if possible. Rescue breathing may be hindered by the closing airway but can help if the victim stops breathing on his own. Clinical treatment typically consists of antihistamines (which inhibit the effects of histamine at histamine receptors) which are usually not sufficient in anaphylaxis, and high doses of intravenous corticosteroids. Hypotension is treated with intravenous fluids and sometimes vasoconstrictor drugs. For bronchospasm, bronchodilator drugs such as salbutamol are employed.
Given the common mediators of both asthmatic and anaphylactic bronchoconstriction, it is not surprising that asthma sufferers are at a particular risk for anaphylaxis. Still, estimates place the numbers of people who are susceptible to such responses at more than 40 million in the United States alone.
Tragically, many of these patients are fully aware of the severity of their condition, and die while struggling in vain to manage the attack medically. Many of these incidents occur in hospitals or in ambulances, in the presence of highly trained medical personnel who are powerless to break the cycle of inflammation and bronchoconstriction (and life-threatening hypotension in the case of anaphylaxis) affecting their patient.
Unfortunately, prompt medical attention for anaphylactic shock and asthma are not always available. For example, epinephrine is not always available for immediate injection. Even in cases where medication and attention is available, life saving measures are often frustrated because of the nature of the symptoms. Constriction of the airways frustrates resuscitation efforts, and intubation may be impossible because of swelling of tissues.
Typically, the severity and rapid onset of anaphylactic reactions does not render the pathology amenable to chronic treatment, but requires more immediately acting medications. Among the most popular medications for treating anaphylaxis is epinephrine, commonly marketed in so-called “Epipen” formulations and administering devices, which potential sufferers carry with them at all times. In addition to serving as an extreme bronchodilator, epinephrine raises the patient's heart rate dramatically in order to offset the hypotension that accompanies many reactions. This cardiovascular stress can result in tachycardia, heart attacks and strokes.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of disability, and is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. More than 12 million people are currently diagnosed with COPD. An additional 12 million likely have the disease and don't even know it. COPD is a progressive disease that makes it hard for the patient to breathe. COPD can cause coughing that produces large amounts of mucus, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness and other symptoms. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of COPD, although longterm exposure to other lung irritants, such as air pollution, chemical fumes or dust may also contribute to COPD. In COPD, less air flows in and out of the bronchial airways for a variety of reasons, including loss of elasticity in the airways and/or air sacs, inflammation and/or destruction of the walls between many of the air sacs and overproduction of mucus within the airways.
The term COPD includes two primary conditions: emphysema and chronic obstructive bronchitis. In emphysema, the walls between many of the air sacs are damaged, causing them to lose their shape and become floppy. This damage also can destroy the walls of the air sacs, leading to fewer and larger air sacs instead of many tiny ones. In chronic obstructive bronchitis, the patient suffers from permanently irritated and inflamed bronchial tissue that is slowly and progressively dying. This causes the lining to thicken and form thick mucus, making it hard to breathe. Many of these patients also experience periodic episodes of acute airway reactivity (i.e., acute exacerbations), wherein the smooth muscle surrounding the airways goes into spasm, resulting in further constriction and inflammation of the airways. Acute exacerbations occur, on average, between two and three times a year in patients with moderate to severe COPD and are the most common cause of hospitalization in these patients (mortality rates are 11%). Frequent acute exacerbations of COPD cause lung function to deteriorate quickly, and patients never recover to the condition they were in before the last exacerbation. Similar to asthma, current medical management of these acute exacerbations is often insufficient.
Unlike cardiac arrhythmias, which can be treated chronically with pacemaker technology, or in emergent situations with equipment like defibrillators (implantable and external), there is virtually no commercially available medical equipment that can chronically reduce the baseline sensitivity of the smooth muscle tissue in the airways to reduce the predisposition to asthma attacks, reduce the symptoms of COPD or to break the cycle of bronchial constriction associated with an acute asthma attack or anaphylaxis.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for new products and methods for treating the immediate symptoms of bronchial constriction resulting from pathologies such as anaphylactic shock, asthma and COPD. In particular, there is a need in the art for non-invasive devices and methods to treat the immediate symptoms of bronchial constriction. Potential advantages of such non-invasive medical methods and devices relative to comparable invasive procedures are as follows. The patient may be more psychologically prepared to experience a procedure that is non-invasive and may therefore be more cooperative, resulting in a better outcome. Non-invasive procedures may avoid damage of biological tissues, such as that due to bleeding, infection, skin or internal organ injury, blood vessel injury, and vein or lung blood clotting. Non-invasive procedures are generally painless and may be performed without the need for even local anesthesia. Less training may be required for use of non-invasive procedures by medical professionals. In view of the reduced risk ordinarily associated with non-invasive procedures, some such procedures may be suitable for use by the patient or family members at home or by first-responders at home or at a workplace, and the cost of non-invasive procedures may be reduced relative to comparable invasive procedures.